Perhaps we in the United States could use some more theater in Congress. The Canadians have seen prancing, pouting, girning and high dudgeon in many forms this week. It looks like the same-sex marriage bill is secondary, tertiary or even lower compared with the slights in Parliament.
The Canoe version has lots of detail and color.
As far as we're concerned here the point is, "The same-sex bill, over strenuous Conservative objections, now is expected to pass handily as early as Monday with the combined support of most Liberals, NDP and Bloc MPs." Getting there though would be normal politics here, but apparently insults never to be forgotten up there.
Oddly enough to us, the worst seems to be when the bloc voting against the Conservatives to pass the big supplementary budget called for a vote when the Tories had skipped town. Here was a huge vote and the party had pledged to block the bloc, which included the Bloc (from Quebec). Enough Tories slipped out Thursday early for the weekend that the combined other parties used a rule that limited debate to an hour, and then won by five votes.
Tory Leader Stephen Harper is seething. Again, downtown this seems like legislative business. If you want your guys to vote, make sure they hang around the hall. He calls it treachery and worse.
Next, this nefarious group of voting lawmakers extended the current session to deal with the same-sex-marriage bill. They have the votes unless a lot of them drown over the weekend.
In a sharp tweak of irony, Toronto's huge gay-pride parade and celebration is this Sunday. Harper won't attend.
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